Strange relations
by retro and vintage
Summary: Even in the midst of chaos, friendship arises. Temporary or not, this bond will forever bring comfort in the face of misery. A series of almost random interactions between characters of Mortal Kombat  9 . Genres usually varies. Ermac & Mileena are first.
1. Ermac and Mileena I

**AN:** I'm new to MK but I really hope I can put Ermac (my favorite character at the moment) to be in character as much as possible. i know that Mileena was in the game before Ermac was in the original timeline. But I follow the MK9 one and Ermac was created before Mileena was in that timeline so...

Ermac might be OOC sadly, no matter how hard I try, his personality is just too darn hard to "read"

* * *

><p><em>Unwanted relations<em>

To meditate in a cold, blatant and formidable forest would seem unattractive to any man, but Ermac isn't picky on such things. The place only needs to be quiet and as distant from society as possible to meet his preferences.

And any unfortunate passerby stupid enough to come across within the 10 feet radius Ermac calls his personal space was merely asking for a disembowelment.

The meditation began as a mere past time during Ermac's early allegiance to Shao kahn, honestly during Ermac's tenure as his warrior he was often left…idle. There wasn't much to do, although no one could easily call Ermac a person who can easily succumb to boredom. Yet it is expected from Shao kahn lackey's to torture their prisoners with utmost lack of humility and sympathy, and in every sadistic way they that know that was amusing when no mission was assigned.

Ermac, however, wasn't as amused. He didn't find the suffering of others as entertaining as his 'allies' do – and they mocked him for it. They called him soft.

He was never soft.

It was fun at first, he admitted. He certainly enjoyed it when he ripped off the Earthrealmer's appendages while his friends just stood by and watch with mounting horror. He did assassinations sporadically. But nowadays the methods of torture seemed repetitive that only complete psychopaths would savor it.

Bloodstains were hard to wash off though.

Well, other than inflicting pain, he would help in planning their next move in Shao Kahn's favor – if he chose to. He wasn't loquacious enough at best; but it would really irritate him whenever someone would argue with his proposals. So he opted to stay quiet. So quiet only a few would suggest including him in their next attack.

When those two activities failed for him there was only one left – Chatting with others.

Any attempt to do so was not mandatory, but Ermac felt the souls within him paralyze like a glacier when Kano called him a "Pussy ass bitch" when he heard that he simply let the "Jax" fellow live.

He had no clue what the term meant at first, but a few of the Earthrealm souls within him made him reflect what it meant. It felt like someone was hitting his physical organs with a heated flail from the inside.

Bonding with his allies is definitely out of the question.

* * *

><p>The red warrior really needed a meditation, granted he was not in the best of moods since Kano's insult. Even to be in his presence was enough to make him feel slight nausea.<p>

We are torn because we could not maim him since he is on our side. But we wanted to _hurt_ him so.

Ermac was searching for a new site to be left alone, granted he would return to his last one, but it was desecrated the moment it became a battle ground against the enemy. _Those damn rebels…_

He heard about the Living forest from Baraka, the tarkatan was a good ally enough to be fully trusted. Baraka said so himself that people rarely travel this part of Outworld since the trees that inhabit the forest will exterminate travelers and consume the souls of the living to be a permanent part of the forest. The trees would definitely become a force from hell when the prey was immobile for too long. Not a place for those for who seek peace in ways that need to stay still.

We don't mind.

* * *

><p>It was unusual for the others to learn that Shang Tsung had actually let Ermac wander off many times, the allowances was still a puzzle to them.<p>

Ermac trekked the forgiving part of the said forest, towards its unrelenting, unexplored depths. The branches would try to capture him and hurt him at least; but Ermac escaped each effort with a few scratches. He came across some setbacks with the "Earthrealm defenders" as well (He calls any foe with the said appellation), but he decided to injure them for the time being. It will be up to the trees to dispose of them.

He found a good clearing in the late afternoon, there were blotches of undead canopy from above and the ground was in shades of gray and saturated green. Ermac speculated that it was barren for some time and he doubted it was inhabited by anyone.

It's enough.

The place was far as well, probably served as a nave within the forest, and it would take a huge amount of effort for anyone to find him. But the moment Ermac sensed that he would be needed, he'd simply teleport within the perimeters of Shao Kahn's palace to avoid suspicion of treason.

Why would they suspect that? Well they're really an odd lot.

He sat down coyly with his back inches from a very harmful looking tree. Ermac was startled at first to feel flutters emanating from the trees, but he found the faint vibrations comforting. They're respirating, he theorized. The groans wafting in the area are tolerable to the point of it being unnoticeable, the draft was cool and the dissolving sun at the distance was giving the last drops of light unto the earth. The trees looked innocuous at this rate.

Ermac couldn't have asked for more.

He closed his eyes and the world in front of him was swallowed in shadows. But his eyes are luminescent so total darkness won't be expected. The collected souls were placid, and the memories of visions that plagued him in his deep slumber would evaporate into nothingness yet again. But would condense into blurry fogs when he returns to consciousness once more.

Its rare for Ermac to feel "satisfaction". He didn't care if it was an appropriate word for the sensation, but it was close. The slow, undisturbed rise and fall of his chest was a heavenly movement he would forever savor. And the silence was enough to bring about the faintest of smiles in his face and ease to his hearing.

He heard far too many screams from the captives anyways.

He continued with no thoughts in his mind. The delectation of the luxury was short lived. Even if he meditated for a good 5 hours.

His muscles tensed the instant the new vibrations in the ground made themselves heard, forming an erratic and fast rhythm of footsteps in it's wake. He knew by instinct that this intruder was running and its distance was 50 feet away at the time being. Ermac would've just ignored the unintentional presence but he sensed it approaching towards him.

30 feet, he opened his eyes.

20 feet, he tightened his fists.

10 feet, That's it.

He was about to levitate and dismantle the person limb from limb but he curtly stopped when he found her familiar. _Unfortunately_, he sighed. He contemplated if he should bow or not, but no one else was here but them alone, and he could take her on pretty easily.

_It's her..._

She wore royal yet revealing garb with blushes of pink and magenta. She's that insane girl back at the palace no doubt. Out of all his "allies", she's the one he didn't even see the necessity to prattle with. He mouthed with surpressed irritation and uninterest. Apparently he was that annoyed since this girl disturbed him in his rare moments of inner peace.

"Mileena...we presume"

She broke in cackles and dins, now Ermac was even more unmotivated to even acknowledge her presence. Mileena stopped herself when Ermac remained taciturn throughout the whole laughing episode.

"Sit down with me" She requested coyly, with her right arm waved in a curve.

What should we do? Ermac didn't have any experience with this girl, he cannot predict on how she will act and respond, and sadly for him he didn't saw her fight much so he didn't know what to expect the moment she should attack him. It took a moment's contemplation, he didn't even sense Mileena's dwindling patience.

So like a lapdog and in the nick of time, he sat down. Mileena sat on the ground as well, she flexed her arms and did something unthinkable. She pinched his cheek. Or more specifically she pinched the fabric of his face wrappings in her dainty fingers. Ermac twitched at that.

"Look at you remembering my name like that, you're really sweet." Mileena smiled.

We were baffled, no one has acted like this to us, do only people with mental problems such as her act like that? Maybe...

Then Mileena cupped Ermac's hands. This is bad.

If she touches us any further, we will not hesitate to disembowel this wench and leave her for dead. He wanted to think like that, but she has not done anything flagrant of the sort, and it would leave Ermac biased if he ended up killing her when asked for a decent reason. Ermac wanted to do something. She was Shao Kahn's daughter after all, or so he knows, so he had a hard time picking the next move to...make her stop at least. Clearly though he was level headed enough to tolerate her actions, unlike others who would simply threaten her if she did the same to them.

In situations such as these, or even it was close enough; Ermac opted to shut his mouth by instinct. Too bad though, Mileena misinterpreted it as shyness.

Ermac distanced himself slighty when Mileena inched herself forwards - nearer to him. Although she stopped when she their lower limbs touched. Ermac could not fathom with his logic the purpose of her shenanigans. It must be how she fools her victims. Then in a very sudden and unexpected outburst, Mileena leaned to his ear and whispered in a serious tone, "I found our hiding _sister_, big brother, but we can't trust her"

Ermac's eyebrows rose at a height it never rose before, _What?_

That statement alone caught Ermac off guard, it seemed out of character of the woman, even if he lacks the knowledge on how she behaves. But really though, big brother? what made her think like that? He divulged his reasoning on her words, but then a moment of unexpected discovery dawned itself.

He remembered a time not so long ago when Mileena treated Kitana (If he remembered correctly) as her sister. She would babble on and on about it. She insists on it and brags about it. She'd hurt her - that Kitana.

And that same woman was scheduled for an execution. This made Ermac wary.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:<strong> _I'm confused at the timeline as much as it is, I know that technically Skarlet was created first in the timeline in the game (story wise). But Ermac will be the older one in this story.


	2. Ermac and Milleena II

AN: One shots have a limit of three to four chapters. They're not necessarily romance – mind you.

**Nivet:** Dude, Skarlet has a very minimal role in the story. It _is _about Ermac and Mileena anyways. You may have your chance to be the first!

Insert generic MK disclaimer here.

And I apologize for my terseness.

* * *

><p><em>Strange Relations II<em>

He was startled at the "sister" part, almost. He sat there, stiff, and then Mileena reverted back to her place. She waited for him to react for a split second since her revelation, but he was unreasonably laconic. Maybe he didn't hear me, she thought. However she didn't try to apprehend if he was at unease simply because she didn't care. Her rare brusque visage donned a sanguine mask the instant she looked at him. He couldn't fathom if she was serious or plain crazy.

For some reason, she laughed loud. Real loud. The brouhaha from her mouth disturbing the tranquility of the forest.

Then she became quiet, and before she could think of something to say she laughed again.

Ermac's nodded thoughtfully. Heh. She's crazy indeed.

His brows furrowed for the first time. She's treating us like a_ toy..._

Ermac, evidently _annoyed,_ didn't talk at all. He was actually hoping that it will discourage her from bothering him.

Maybe if we ignored her for an adequate amount of time, she'll leave us _alone. _Better yet, she won't bother to approach us again.

Ermac crossed his arms and tried to abate the nascent of misogyny at the pit of his being. He tried to face his eyes at something else, but whenever he suspects his companion-intruder doing something vile he'd look at her menacingly.

5 minutes have passed.

Ermac was determined to clamp his tongue down.

Mileena blinked, she was confused, then bored. Seeing him quiet made her feel tedious yet lively at the same time. She was slightly surprised to witness him staring at her. Then a misnomer for his implied silent treatment hit her.

She thought it was a staring contest and "played along". Happily unacknowledged about the rules, she pouted, shouted and babbled nonsense.

Ermac didn't flinch.

20 minutes afterwards, Mileena decided to regale him. Why? She doesn't care. But for whatever reason that can agree with her barely-a-year-old reasoning was simply because...

Just because...

Unknown to her, this is the beginning of her hobby to rankle him in very humiliating ways.

The next 4 hours was spent with Mileena playfully torturing all of his psyche.

* * *

><p>Patience is an innate virtue of Ermac's. How he was able to put up with the others back at Shao Kahn's was proof of its existence in his abnormal form; but then Mileena came.<p>

Ermac had always been baffled at Mileena's effrontery since her...creation; yet how he was able to brook her pestering actions ever since her 'birth' was a testament of his patience.

How patient? It's enough to tolerate anyone execrable from time to time. Those things are surprising but forgettable in minutes. But putting up with Mileena taunting you for 5 hours straight _without doing anything harmful to her_ was a herculean task.

Her topics were random, aiming at different people, he was not even sure if some of them are real - but he let it pass; she even talked about herself in third person for lord's sake. And dear, she didn't stop there. Ermac may be a neophyte in social functions as of yet, but clearly this woman wasn't aware of the _restrictions_.

She leaned her nose on his chest to smell him. She attempted _without second thought_ to pull him out of his garb to see if he really was made of souls. She hugged him and pushed him to nearest tree trunk when she demanded that he'd play with her.

The serene euphoria that made Ermac so placid was foundering into the depths of the void he called his body.

Ermac was fighting the urge to flay her, to break that tarkatan face in numerous fractures that mocked him for so long as he could remember, the behemoth within his ethereal from struggled for dominance to torture that miscreant-girl-mutant-thing. He wanted to hurt her, to hell with the consequences. Maybe no one will even care if she was dead.

But he didn't let the anger surface yet, since he realized then his allegiance to Shao Kahn.

Why must she be royalty? Why can't she go back to that Kitana?

Why didn't Shang Tsung bound her to chains?

Why us?

Meanwhile Mileena giggled and kept persuading him to play with her. She ran her finger along his nose bridge, and pressed her index finger lightly at the exposed part of his nose. Ermac didn't acknowledge at the suggestiveness of it, he was too busy being annoyed at her.

If only he was Earthrealm defender he had a good alibi to dismember her. Come to think of it, he realized too late, Mileena was far worse than Kano.

"Come on big brother! I'm bored! Let us play! Let us dance! Talk to me!"

_So she wanted to play, if she meant by fighting like she always did with the others, then..._

_No, no matter how much we wanted to, we cannot do that._

Ermac believed he talked a lot...to themselves. He even forgot to at least look like he was acknowledging her presence. Mileena thought he was ignoring her. She hated to be ignored. Like what her father did to her with Kitana or Skarlet were around. She gritted her morbid fangs. Not you too...

He was pushed further at the trunk of the living tree; her hands were on his shoulders to shake him out of his reverie.

"Ermac! Ermac! Ermac! Ermac! Ermac! Ermac! Ermac! Ermac! Ermac! Ermac! Ermac! Ermac! Ermac! Ermac! Ermac! Ermac! "

She was quaffing his patience and savoring the last drops of the abstract liquid. Ermac was paralyzed as she shook him.

He remembered bits of Shang Tsung's words.

_"She has a mind of a child...Her logic seems misplaced at times but ... She's 8 months old..."_

He didn't stutter and kept a straight face. How could that be? He was barely a year old as well but she's...the tarkatan blood could not be the reason. If she's a child - a toddler...

Mileena showed no signs of stopping the rapture she used to subdue him. Ermac had to do something and began to ponder amidst Mileena's feistiness. And with shards of false hope, he hoped his theory would work.

Then he said with restrained exasperation and sinking self - control. "Why can't we trust her?"

Mileena's sanguine eyes formed an icy glare; the demonic amber irises glowing in increasing intensity, but her eyes seems to be staring through him like his existence didn't matter.

She let go of him and distanced herself away. Ermac felt his lungs could finally breathe again.

"She's a whore! Don't you even dare talk to that woman under my watch!" She pointed an accusing finger at him.

Ermac clicked his tongue. "Go on..."

Mileena talked about "Skarlet" for an ample amount of time, rant would be more specific. She cursed her to the pits of the Nether realm, Mileena said horrible things about her. Skarlet… who she was he didn't care, so long she kept talking the less she'll touch him. His personal space is quite large for an average guy.

Ermac crossed his arms as he gazed at her, forming exegeses in his head on why she acts like that and savoring the lack of foreign weight on his clothing. She kept prattling about her plan to exterminate _her_ sister.

"Father thinks she's so **special!**" She dug her hands in the soil, her knuckles whitening and dirt stuck to her gloves and shaking fingers.

He didn't reflect on her jealousy. He thought it was ridiculous for her to involve him in her selfish quest for attention that he didn't even bother to pay attention to every word.

Spoiled brat.

* * *

><p>It's been a while, 10 minutes, but she kept on speaking. She wasn't even aware if he was still listening. Ermac ignored her voice like how he ignored Kano.<p>

Yet the imaginary armor he adorned himself in cracked when Mileena pulled him up and jerked him to follow her.

Finally he talked about his annoyance in one phrase.

"You're a nuisance" Ermac reprimanded as he struggled to maintain his balance as she skipped with him in tow. It didn't come out as intimidating as he intended.

Spiteful girl.

Mileena winsomely skipped on the ground, dirt was trailing along her boots and she held both of his arms and paraded him along the seemingly muddy soil. She spun around and held Ermac with her innate strength.

She laughed louder and tightened her grip on his arms when he tried to uproot his appendages from her hands.

"Come big brother! Let's get rid of her once and for all!"

Let's?

_Let's..._

He planted his feet to the ground in one swift motion Mileena almost faltered.

_"What!_" Mileena hissed, her mood swings are hard to keep of track of, he noticed that they have indeed gone worse since the last time he saw her, which was hours ago. She continued to tighten her grip on him to permanently injure him, glared at him, mouthed profanities.

Her piercing glare only met unimpressed half lidded eyes. "We will not be a part of this" Ermac pushed her away without touching her, and lifted her up as green specks of ethereal souls floated in circles around her.

"Traitor! You're on Kitana's side! You're on Skarlet's side!** I HATE YOU! **HATE! HATE! HATE! HATE!" Mileena screamed with her vocal chords hurting as her body disobediently straightened and her chin tipping back as Ermac's intangible grip on her tightened.

She continued yelling in pain and torment.

Ermac sighed. A friendly Mileena is somewhat tolerable, but having her as enemy is something he wanted to avoid. A screaming, stalking, backstabbing Mileena is far worse than the Mileena earlier. He looked around, suddenly aware of the unfriendly aura in the forest, the groans were louder and shadows trailed around the woods darkened in hues that even dulled the forest grounds. He didn't realize how much time must've passed till now. It was night.

Nighttime in the living forest is a death wish.

He thought about reasoning with her, but he doubted she'd be complaisant. Rendering her unconscious was not option now, the emperor could've assigned someone, some people or _something_ to look for her with this time of night. He can't let the others think that he hurt her.

Screw it.

"I'm not on their side" He said calmly but loud enough to penetrate the voluble noise she created.

Mileena was silenced. "Really!" She exclaimed happily, her giddiness returning. "You're on my side?"

Ermac shuddered. She's calm now, a bit, now there's no need to constrict her sinuses. He remained laconic and Mileena fooled herself that he said yes.

"So you are!" Mileena giggled.

He had to stare at her intently, she was really a specimen to behold. He never knew that anyone was capable to be annoying without knowing it.

Mileena held back her chuckles.

Well, while she's preoccupied, her claims about the brother part earlier had him … "Why do you consider us your brothers?" He mouthed, and surprised it came out of his mouth.

Mileena cocked her head, there's something wry about the way she said it. "Because you are! Silly Ermac!"

So much for reason. He can't believe he had to change his tone of voice to get answers.

"But, _why?_"

She pouted behind her veil. "We're both created by Shang Tsung aren't we?"

A intangible knife made its way through Ermac and stabbed the soul inhabitants.

"…That's…your logic is misplaced." Ermac uttered, still confused.

"You know it's true!"

He had to explain to her that siblings aren't related as such, but decided against it. She would not and cannot comprehend it…yet.

"And you're the only big brother I have! I won't allow _Skarlet_ take you too!"

We felt something…something figuratively amorphous…

"You're the only one I didn't play with yet too!"

Okay that part creeped him out.

He still held her, the intangible grasp around her softening since she had not try to wiggle her way out. Yet, the concentration of souls were magnifying as she smiled at him adoringly. He decided to not think about what she said, take advantage of her lively state, and teleport both of them outside the tournament grounds to calm her down before returning her to Shao Kahn.

* * *

><p>They're in the soul chamber.<p>

Why are we here? We're supposed to be at...

Ermac looked around, aside from everything in their usual wont, the Shadow priests were absent._ No one's guarding the souls..._

He looked at where Mileena should be, hovering two feet from the ground. But she wasn't there. The teleportation distracted him. _Where is she?_

And in a sudden involuntary outburst, he said her name.

"Mileena!" He was surprised to hear himself say her name. But he didn't let it daunt him and continued his search while a lingering thought slowly glistened.

Maybe she ended up some place else.

He stopped.

He felt an awkward murky feeling at the pit of his stomach. Emotions weren't Ermac's forte, but this new emotion was bothering him. He reflected on it. Whenever a new emotion should arise Ermac would try to understand it. Like now.

We feel sick...so this is a negative sensation. It's directed at...dare way say it. Her. Her... It erupted when we noticed she was missing. It's not anger...not anymore at least. What if something happened to...

He didn't know it fully yet, but he was not worried.

He felt guilty.

Somehow, somewhere in the constant chasms in his mind he can hear that girl saying his name with "big brother" preceding the former in a very reiterate manner like what she did earlier.

He even forgot _momentarily_ the threats and the methods of killing her in his head.

Ermac turned his head to the big skull statue harboring the souls where he was rejuvenated, and turned his back to it. He gazed around the vicinity. The walls, the texture of the clay floor where he took his first steps. Then cautiously turned his head where he teleported into seconds ago and felt a draft wash over his robe. To his dismay and delight there's still no sign of her.

The feeling was getting worse though.

_"She's barely a year old" _Shang Tsung told Ermac weeks ago when he first saw her near completion in the Flesh pits.

She looked so horrid and…not beautiful in those torn sheets of fabric. He only says the truth.

Then he remembered something else from what Mileena ranted about 4 days earlier when she said that Kitana supposedly attacked her when she **just** came out of the glass tube she was in. And he remembered her words hours ago that were supposed to be forgotten.

**Father thinks she's so special!**

**Kitana and Skarlet looked so beautiful… **

He shook his head slowly.

What are we supposed to see here? Are we missing something...important…?

He turned his head at every possible direction he could look to distract himself. Mileena can take care of herself can she not? He almost spun in panic. The serenity and the loneliness he grew to love brought him a faint sinking of his chest. And the souls in the soul chamber trudged in silence.

But those composing him waved in modicum amounts of whirlpools.

And for the first time, he felt _uncomfortable_ and _comfortable_ being alone. _For some reason he couldn't apprehend… _Hell, he was surprised to think as such about his standards.

Then he saw a reddish hue a few feet away, how she arrived here without him knowing he did not know. But she stomped her feet brusquely as she approached him.

"You are Ermac?" She asked. He couldn't tell if the way her eyes looked at him had an inborn glare or she intended to do so.

That was quite regal. "You're correct. What do you-" She raised her hand to hinder him from continuing.

"No time to talk, I was alerted that there was an intruder in the fortress, and I came here to apologize"

"For what?"

"I took your captive earlier, before both of you could form I took her away to the pit. She's Mileena yes? I didn't know it at first and she started to attack me. Master was looking for her minutes ago so I brought her back to him."

What...? How….? When…? Never mind. She's already incoherent and terse with her words.

He crossed his arms "You did not answer the question. Why are you apologizing?" He said calmly.

"I brought her to Shao Kahn since she told me that you brainwashed her"

She paused.

"Your execution will be in 6 days' time"

Ermac was still calm, as was she.

"She dropped" to the floor in pools of blood and the liquid evaporated. Ermac didn't look surprised.

Ermac knew her then, she was the girl Quan Chi or Shang Tsung had created. He couldn't pinpoint when exactly she was created but decided tot leave it at that. Then he fought a disappointed sigh, so that's the Skarlet she was referring to.

How she thought why she thought she was her sister too was beyond him.

Then he reluctantly pondered on dialogue earlier. The "concern" he felt for Mileena left him.

Ermac stayed where he stood for half an hour….thinking…He paused and looked at himself.

What are we doing?

Why are we standing here and not reprimanding her?

Why didn't we_ maim her_ when we had the chance?

He grew aggravated and disposed his thoughts away.

Pathetic, once we find her we'll explain everything to Shao Kahn and deal with her there.

* * *

><p>AN: it felt fluffy….. man…. Can anyone please tell me it didn't felt too quick….<p> 


	3. Ermac and Mileena III: Skarlet

AN: Thanks to nivet. thanks to you, I promised myself to never post a draft of a story in this site. And never type one in the middle of the night.

Yet here I am doing it again... with Skarlet as a promotional gift to get anyone to write about her. although I don't like her much. Totally neutral about her.

_Warning: This was supposed to be a fluffy kind of story, Ermac fixing the relationship of Kitana, Mileena and Skarlet. But an idea came to mind and I couldn't stop myself. i really tried to stop myself. I'm sorry if i slightly scarred anyone._

* * *

><p><em>Ermac and Mileena III: Skarlet<em>

Three days later, Ermac walked towards the palace, reaching the armory where the usual executioner resides. Once inside, Ermac kept himself from giving a panicked visage, showing weakness might mark his existence null. He walked liked a dead man, stiff and movements overly controlled, but there's a slowness to it. He expected wary looks from the people, insults spoken, especially from Kano, yet there were none. He was confused at Shao Kahn's forces acting as usual, maybe they didn't care or unaware of his scheduled death. Ermac wasn't surprised at the act, he would've done the same to anyone.

He knew the accusation Skarlet issued before was false, _so false_, yet he accepted his fate. He did not question it, he knew it was pointless trying to hinder an upcoming execution, it was like trying to stop hair growing, you can postpone but it will come. Look at what happened to Kitana, she shall be executed very soon, much like him; and she was Shao Kahn's daughter. She was either punished either for treason or for being a relative to such a very conniving little brat that they hated to call their sister.

Mileena.

Ermac finally understood what Kitana felt, but on a much, much different degree.

Hate...He never felt an emotion this strong, he wasn't sure if he should be happy or be annoyed with it.

But why did he felt sympathy for this small behemoth?

He felt worried somehow for that tarkatan hag, he hated feeling as such. That filthy, dissolute, maladroit wench. Immature, ugly, selfish, envious girl. She told the King to execute us. What _'brainwash'_ was she falsely speaking of? He kept repeating negative mantras about Mileena over and over to truly loathe her, to detest her existence, to actually have the_ conviction_ to end her life before his was ended. And now he wanted punch himself. He was thinking about her again, but he couldn't stand the thought of her.

We have not seen her for days, how did Skarlet attack her...stop.

Even her name...Mileena, it hurt his tongue, he hated how her name constricts the walls of his throat. The screech sounds it creates when it bubbles up in his head. Hated that his tongue could pronounce her name correctly. She was on his mind like a weed in a beautiful garden, always popping up to corrupt his beliefs. Remove her and she would grow more in his head threefold. Thoughts of her were amorphous, changing its shape and form constantly, it pissed the hell out of Ermac. He couldn't stand the uncertainty. What did he truly feel about this girl? Hate? Concern? Grudge? _Sympathy_...? Even with all the harsh adjectives he could think of, it could not hinder his _rising_ concern for that...that...abomination Shao Kahn calls his 'true daughter'.

Wait...if Mileena is technically our sister and Shao Kahn is technically her father...that would make us...

Ermac stopped in his tracks. No...just no. He snapped then.

Why are acting like this? We were days before our death and here we are, thinking of her. Hell he thinks about detesting her so much he didn't pay attention to his impending death. Why?

Perhaps Ermac was a master at inflicting pain to himself.

Don't think, Ermac ordered each soul.

Well, at least, that girl won't disturb us in our deaths. It's better this way.

He looked around, the person he was looking for was 'generic' so it wasn't easy looking for him using only your eyes. He skipped the other tarkatans and finally found him next to grinding wheel. Seeing him sharpening his innate blades made him feel happy somehow. Ermac caught him off guard the minute he patted his shoulder. The tarkatan slowly turned around and greeted him with a skeptical look.

Ermac presented his arms,expecting to be chained and spoke with outward dignity."We are ready, make it quick"

Baraka, the 'executioner', just stared at him. "What?"

Ermac wasn't fazed and he continued, "We will be executed soon correct? The sooner we are arrested the better or...rather, you can kill us right now."

Just do it. The thought of continuing living with Mileena annoying him made him shudder.

Baraka pondered for a bit. Ermac was tempted to say please.

"I was not given any reports of the sort, Kitana is the latest so far."

"Perhaps you weren't informed."

"It's impossible if I did not heard about this, information like that always goes to me first. Always."

Ermac wasn't sure If he should feel happy or sick. Kitana's so lucky.

And then a strange feeling flooded him.

He was scared of her.

* * *

><p>"Did he buy it?" Mieena asked, she circled around Skarlet in prideful and seducing strides, Skarlet just stood still, indifferent.<p>

"...yes, no matter how irrational the alibi was you've given me" She crossed her arms and continued.

"How can I take someone in the middle of a teleportation process -something I can't touch- and transport them to a far off location? It's illogical"

"Doesn't matter!" Mileena waved a finger in front of her "It worked!" She cackled and playfully spun around like novice ballet dancer. Skarlet eyed her cautiously.

"Silly Ermac! He thinks he's the only one who can teleport! How absurd!"

Skarlet looked at her, what she did was a very cruel joke.

"I won't participate in this folly anymore Mileena" Skarlet was already tired of the 'game' she was forced to play in.

Mileena stopped spinning. Her happy eyes had a glare of an angry tiger. "You dare confront the princess?"

Ah, now Skarlet remembered why she was here in the first place.

"My father is your master right? I'm his daughter and I'm _a princess_. They only created you to kill people, you have no authority here sweetie... And that means you're my slave and you're lucky I didn't order them to kill you..."

Skarlet wished Mileena was in her list to assassinate. She couldn't disembowel people she wasn't ordered to kill. She scornfully pitied herself at her present predicament. She sighed. Authority...what that felt like?

Being a slave to this girl was worse than going through hell. That she found out as days pass.

Oh yes, Mieena was about to kill the wench when she teleported to her location, since she thought Ermac was on her side, she thought he, her faithful big brother, would follow her. But no...Mileena understood though. Problems with teleportations are expected at the intrepid act she did. She teleported to soon due to her excitement, and it somehow made Ermac end up in the soul chamber.

She was going to kill her, about to, Skarlet was a bit weak when she spotted her in the bell tower, she was thirsty for blood. Skarlet was temporarily quarantined since there was a shortage of bodies for her to absorb. Mileena knew so, she even told Ermac about it.

But a crazy thought went to her head. Both of them are red...how cute! It was intrepid, but now she totally felt it was worth it.

That's when the deception started.

Mileena imbibed the feeling, Skarlet was her slave, and Ermac...Ermac was her plaything. She felt unreasonably happy.

And because they were mere assassins they have no say on the situation.

She didn't know what it was yet but she's getting really good at manipulating people. Too good. She loved it.

But Mileena was merciful to Ermac, he wasn't a girl, so there was no competition. She is her playmate. She owns him.

And so it goes for the next few weeks, she pushed their buttons to the point of them on the verge of sanity, and her treatment to them got sickeningly worse.

Ermac hated her and was concerned for her at the same time. His senses were shot. Skarlet had it worse, she started to question her right to exist and attempted to kill herself many times.

But Mileena did not care.

Mileena was asked by her father why his top assassins ended up like that. Mileena said she had no clue. She was that bad.

Totally worth it. She said to herself. Just look at my Ermy! Going insane like that! So adorable!

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> I REGRET NOTHING.


End file.
